Share This Story!

Winless Knicks see the problem, and it is them

It took 37 games last season, when the Knicks were hanging around a .500 record, for Kristaps Porzingis to go public with his frustration, pointing out in what would prove to be prescient thinking that the Knic

It took 37 games last season, when the Knicks were hanging around a .500 record, for Kristaps Porzingis to go public with his frustration, pointing out in what would prove to be prescient thinking that the Knicks record was hiding deeper problems.

The team fell apart, team president Phil Jackson was fired, star player Carmelo Anthony was dealt away and the roster was shuffled once again.

It turns out that the lessons learned may not have been how to fix the franchise’s troubles, but how quickly to recognize that this is going to be a long season. Porzingis saw it even in victories last year. This time, he doesn’t need to see through deceptive victories. The Knicks are one of just three winless teams right now, along with Chicago and Dallas. And they are the only team that has yet to win a regular season or preseason game after an 0-5 exhibition schedule.

And he wasn’t alone in seeing the troubles this time. After the Knicks lost a one-sided game in Boston on Tuesday, there were plenty of places to point the finger. Porzingis admitted that the Celtics, even with two key players sidelined, had talent the Knicks could not match. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said he saw heads hanging in frustration. Tim Hardaway bemoaned his own performance, but noted that players seemed to have no idea what they were doing. Courtney Lee echoed that, pointing out that offensively players didn’t seem to know the plays.

It was Porzingis who offered the most optimistic take, assuring anyone who would listen that the Knicks will win a game this season.

“We’re going to win games,” Porzingis said.

Beyond that, an assurance that they will win some game, some day this season, there was little that the Knicks could point to with any level of confidence.

Asked what was wrong Tuesday, Hardaway Jr. said, “Everything.” That summed it up nicely, but he was willing to be more specific.

“We’re all out there just running like we don’t know what’s going on,” Hardaway Jr. said. “It can’t happen. It’s frustrating at the same time, but it’s still early in the season. We’ve just got to go to the drawing boards and get back to practice, just go out there knowing what we have to do offensively and defensively.”

“We’ve got to get better at executing,” Lee said. “It was a lot of possessions like a normal eye might not see it, but we messed up on a lot of plays where the ball wasn’t getting delivered on time or one or two guys not being on the same page as far as the play-calling. That’s on us. We’ve got to pay attention more in practice, make sure we execute more when we’re out there.”

The players put the blame on themselves, but it certainly doesn’t reflect well on the coaching staff if the team doesn’t know the plays. Part of it can be blamed on a new point guard and the new faces on the team, although the Celtics didn’t seem to have those problems Tuesday with their new point guard and a team that featured rookie Jayson Tatum and second year pro Jaylen Brown.

Hardaway Jr. has been at the center of some of the problems, at least the Knicks’ inability to cover the problems up.

His offensive prowess was supposed to provide a weapon alongside Porzingis. But in three games so far he has gotten worse with each outing: 3-for-10 shooting in the first game, 4-for-16 and then 2-for-11. Tuesday, he was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. On the season he is 9-for-37 overall and 5-for-22 from three-point range.

Like this topic? You may also like these photo galleries:

“I’m not playing the way I wanted to play and it sucks,” Hardaway Jr. said. “But I can’t harp on that. You’ve got to move on, get back in the gym and work. My teammates have my back. They’re giving me confidence each and every day so I go out there and play.

“It’s hard not to see any shots go in. But you know, that’s what practice is for. In practice I’m knocking them down each and every day. Just got to go out here and do it."

For all the talk of practice, the Knicks took the day off Wednesday and will return to the court Thursday for practice before facing the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. They have more players who have seen something is wrong this year than last, and they believe they have the leaders to get them back on track.

“We have those guys here,” Hardaway Jr. said. “It’s just amongst the guys to go out there and show it. There’s no guy out here that’s keeping their mouth closed. Everybody is giving their opinion on things. It’s great. it’s great to have people like that, you know. We’re not taking it to heart as a team. We’re all in this together. We’ve just got to go out there and do it. That will solve everything.”